Follow up to a topic...barn stairs/forklift mast

Farmall 656 · Sep 29, 2019

I posted a couple of weeks ago about building stairs in the old barn to access the haymow for storage. Someone suggested (sorry I forgot whom, but kudos for the idea) to find a forklift mast instead. I am looking at a height of 10 feet. I have no experience about these. How high do forklift masts lift? What should I be looking at when finding these masts, good-bad, wear parts, etc...? Where do I find these? How big of a motor would I need to get to run the hydraulic pump? Would a 3pt forklift with hydraulic lift be just as effective?

JD Seller · Sep 29, 2019

Well even the smallest fork truck mast would easily lift 2000-3000 lbs. Just make sure and find a double section mast. Meaning it has a second section so it will lift higher. A single section would usually not lift ten feet. A double would easily. A triple usually goes to over 20 feet.

As for motor size. Unless you put a really large capacity hydraulic pump on it, a few HP motor would be enough.

You need to think about your hydraulic setup.
1) Fork truck masts are single acting. So you will need a Single acting control valve.
2) since the cylinder is single acting you will need an oil tank to be large enough to hold enough oil to completely fill the cylinder.

DoubleO7 · Sep 29, 2019

A ten foot lift fork lift mast should not be hard to find.
If you salvage one from an electric forklift try to get one with 12volt hydraulic pump on it then you just wire it up to a battery.
You can also make use of the on board battery charger.
Or utilize jumper cables from a vehicle battery when needed.

Or build your own dumb waiter.
Depending on weight capacity desired you could build a dumb waiter instead.
Think of a commercial chainlink fence gate on end and anchor two vertical pipes with a platform inbetween. Use those pipe guided rollers on the platform.
Then use a harbor freight (power in/power out) 12v winch to pull it up.

Adirondack case guy · Sep 29, 2019

Instead of going to all that trouble, trying to adapt a forklift mast in your barn and go to all the trouble to try and power and control it, I would build a dumb waiter. Overhead door track works well to guide a home built trolley/platform with 4 door rollers to keep it in line. Power it with a HF 120V winch securely mounted above, so it raises and lowers the trolley. Far-Far less weight and design parameters to deal with. I have one in my house to bring firewood up to main floor from cellar. It easily lifts a 1/2 face cord of wood.

You can easily build the trolley to the size that you desire and buy an appropriate winch to handle max weight you may want to lift. My e-mail is open in lower RH corner.--------------Loren

sms · Sep 29, 2019

My cousin has a vending business and had a dumb waiter type elevator in his barn, about 6x8. His was built of angle iron with angle iron "shaft". It was in the middle of his gambrel barn so the elevator car was tall and the shaft didn't have to go to the floor, you could drive under the shaft. Is was raised with a winch.

Janicholson · Sep 29, 2019

Safety is also a real consideration. I would make sure there was a control on the platform that was designed to only move when a button was pushed by the person on the platform, or on the lower floor if not being ridden. But mutually exclusive so that only one could be used at a time. A key switch is also a good idea to prevent use by "others". If operated by a cable and wench, there should be a brake that stops the lowering/dropping if there is no cable tension. (single cable to lift is desirable because a pulley on the cage might prevent the safety device from engaging as the cable ran through the pulley. Jim

JMS/.MN · Sep 29, 2019

I like the idea of being "wench operated".

JD Seller · Sep 29, 2019

Janicholson If safety is a major concern I would prefer a hydraulic system over a cable one. Elevators in most buildings are hydraulic if they are not too tall. With a hydraulic system you can put an orifice right at the cylinder that will only allow slow operation even if a hose breaks. I would be more afraid of a cable system because of a mechanical failure allowing the lift to drop suddenly. Think of just a cable clamp sliding off or a cable breaking.

showcrop · Sep 30, 2019

(quoted from post at 08:48:11 09/29/19) I posted a couple of weeks ago about building stairs in the old barn to access the haymow for storage. Someone suggested (sorry I forgot whom, but kudos for the idea) to find a forklift mast instead. I am looking at a height of 10 feet. I have no experience about these. How high do forklift masts lift? What should I be looking at when finding these masts, good-bad, wear parts, etc...? Where do I find these? How big of a motor would I need to get to run the hydraulic pump? Would a 3pt forklift with hydraulic lift be just as effective?

A friend has a simple cheap lift for getting things up and down from his mezzanine. He built his car and hung a one ton chain hoist that he had gotten rebuilt, from a reinforced beam. The car is guided in going up and down by two sets of overhead door tracks and wheels mounted on two by fours. The hoist has adjustable limit switches built in and he added a remote control to the hoist so that he can operate it from either level. It has been working for him for a few years.

Follow up to a topic...barn stairs/forklift mast

Farmall 656

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JD Seller

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DoubleO7

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Adirondack case guy

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sms

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Janicholson

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JMS/.MN

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JD Seller

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showcrop

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